


Just Let Me Adore You

by pennilesspoet



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Episode Coda: The Pitch, Episode Tag S6 E12 The Pitch, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nostalgia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23309239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennilesspoet/pseuds/pennilesspoet
Summary: They need to talk about New York.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 23
Kudos: 179





	Just Let Me Adore You

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Season 6, Episode 12: "The Pitch"!

There’s this strange phenomenon that happens sometimes.

You find yourself in a place that you can’t wait to leave, or perhaps at a job that you look forward to moving on from. But when the time comes to go, you’re hit with a wave of nostalgia and find yourself feeling a bit _sad_ to be walking away. And it doesn’t make any sense, because the entire time, you were waiting to leave - looking forward to it, even. 

Odd, that.

~~@~~

The motel room looks almost exactly how it did on the day that they moved into it. Well, that’s not entirely true. There is a homeyness to it now; a lived-in warmth that didn’t exist on that first day. Their clothes are hanging from wardrobes and coat hooks. Momentos and photos are scattered around the room. Folders and notebooks are stacked in the nook that Alexis has claimed for her office. The receipt from Rose Apothecary’s first sale is in its (very solid) frame on the credenza.

David is sitting at the small, scratched-up dining table, looking at the said receipt from across the room. There are a thousand memories tied to that little slip of paper. Memories of building the store, of falling in love, of finding more than he ever thought he would in this place.

When Alexis had first told him about New York, he'd been so excited. This is what they had been working toward since the day they stepped foot in Schitt’s Creek! A way out, a way back - to the people that they once were, and to the life they had once had.

But the conversation with Patrick had brought him back to reality. He didn’t _want_ to be the person he was before they came here. He didn’t want _his family_ to be those people. The people who arrived in this town were practically strangers to each other. His father was distant, his mother self-involved, and his sister was interested only in finding her way into trouble, in what David could see now as desperate bids for attention from their negligent parents.

Their parents had changed. They were softer now, less distracted. His mother and Alexis had formed a bond that David honestly didn’t think possible before they came here. 

And his sister had become one of the most incredible women he has ever known, and so much stronger than any of them ever gave her credit for.

He knows he has changed as well. Gone is the bitter, wounded animal that would lash out defensively at anyone who ventured too close. In his place is a man who has been able to build a beautiful, creative space out of nothing. A man who is no longer afraid to demonstrate his love. For his family. His friends. But most of all, for his soon-to-be husband.

Patrick chooses that moment to emerge from the bathroom. The Rose’s, along with Stevie and the Schitt’s, have turned the zhampagne toast into an impromptu barbeque in the field next to the motel. David had watched Patrick slip away from the festivities twenty minutes ago, and decided to follow.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was waiting,” Patrick is tense and overly polite. His shirt collar is damp - likely he was splashing water on his face to try and calm down his flushed skin.

His face always gets red when he cries.

“I was waiting for you, actually,” David smiles softly and stands. Patrick curls into himself and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“We should...talk.”

“We can talk later. You - we should go celebrate with your family. This is a big deal.”

“Patrick - “

“FIne, we can talk,” Patrick huffs. He takes a deep breath as he turns away from David slightly.

“It’s unfair of me. To keep you here. I know how much you and your family hate this town, and you’re right, we can probably open a version of this store in New York. I could - I mean there are a lot of job opportunities there for me too, if we need to make some money before the store gets off the ground. I had a job with a pretty big firm back home, and even though I left kind of abruptly, I think I might be able to get a reference. I know a guy-”

“Patrick. Stop talking now please,” David holds up his hand, then lays it gently on Patrick’s shoulder. David imagines that Patrick had been practicing that little speech in the mirror a few minutes ago. It breaks his heart. 

“First of all, I’m sorry you had to hear about the idea for a New York store from Alexis,” David sighs. His sister had been babbling on and on about New York to Patrick earlier, oblivious to the way it was affecting him, “Secondly, I don’t like anything about this - this _thing_ you are suggesting.”

“The, uh, _moving to New York_ thing? David, you brought it up,” Patrick turns and looks up at David with soft, wide eyes, but his shoulders are still so tense and his hands are still shoved deep in his pockets. 

“In this little scenario you have built, you are going back to a job that you told me multiple times that you _hated_ so that we can have something to live on while we get the store off the ground?”

“Well, what do you want me to do? The wedding has decimated our savings, and anything that was left was going toward-” Patrick stops abruptly, tightening his jaw and shaking his head. David huffs in frustration. He can see Patrick closing up, not wanting to tell David something, and that will not do at all.

“Toward what? What were you going to say?”

Patrick grimaces and his eyes drop to the ground. David squeezes his arm, urging him to continue.

“It, um. I was saving the rest for a down payment. For a house. But I don’t know how far it will get us in New York, so-”

“A house,” David echoes. Patrick's cheeks are flush again as he looks up at David through his lashes.

“I haven’t really started looking yet - I just thought. Well, after the wedding, we should start looking for a place with more closet space. And, you know - a place to put down roots.”

David feels a warmth fill him. A warmth he often associates with Patrick, but one he’d also felt earlier when his dad, Stevie, and Roland came back with good news. The same warmth he’d felt when Alexis finished college, and his mom got her movie. He feels overwhelmed with it, and so he pulls Patrick toward him, wraps him up in his arms and pushes his face into Patrick’s neck. Eventually, Patrick unfurls and wraps his arms around David’s waist.

The overwhelming feeling he has is love. It is pouring out of him, and he doesn’t know how to control it. He loves this man so, so much.

“I don’t want to move to New York with you,” David whispers. When Patrick pulls away, looking stricken, David rushes to clarify. “I want to stay here. With you. I want to run this store, the one we started together, the one we fell in love in.”

“But, your family - “

“Will be fine. We can go visit them on holidays or for long weekends, and they will probably need to come back here every now and then too.” David guides Patrick toward Alexis’s bed and sits on the edge. Patrick follows, questions still lingering in his warm brown eyes.

“My family and I came here against our will. We lost everything, but somehow, through the kindness of strangers and extraordinary circumstances, we made it work. You came here, not because you had to, but because you needed to. Because you have spent your entire life doing what is expected of you, in order to make other people happy. That’s why you were willing to take some random job, in a city you have never even visited. 

You love me, and you want me to be happy. And you will do nearly anything to see that through. But at what cost, Patrick? You were so upset when you walked out of that bathroom! I love you too. And I also want you to be happy. I know that I came to you with lofty expectations, because there has always been a part of me that thinks there is something bigger around the corner.”

“You were also excited because you love New York,” Patrick whispers.

“Well, I love you more. I love you the most. And I have come to realize that it has actually been a long, long time since I _really_ thought about leaving this place.” David feels Patrick finally relaxes at his last words. He smiles crookedly and buries his nose into Patrick's short brown hair. They hold onto each other in a slightly awkward side-hug for several moments. 

“So,” Patrick smiles softly and looks up with an impish smile, “do you have like, an _exact time period_ , when you stopped thinking about leaving or-”

“I stopped thinking about leaving around the same time you started thinking about staying,” David replies softly. He leans in and kisses his person softly. “I love you, and I can’t wait to marry you.”

"Well, I can't wait for you to marry me," Patrick grins, then pulls him in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit, it took me a while to get back into writing for this fandom. I had a fairly horrific time with the Open Fic Night fic that I wrote (nothing to to with the event, it was just me), and at the time I wrote it I was going through something pretty devastating, so I actually hate a lot how that one turned out.
> 
> Obviously the entire world is a hot damn mess nowadays, but for some reason, the writing was more cathartic this time around. Tonight's episode was also a doozy, and inspired me to write something down.
> 
> Anyway, this is tl;dr shit, which is why it is at the end. 
> 
> Be well everyone, and stay home and WASH YOUR HANDS! xx


End file.
